The Truth About Vintage Amps with Skip Simmons Fretboard Journal

It's the 134th episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps podcast, where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions on all-things-tube amp. 

This week, we're joined by jazz guitarist Jonathan Stout where we talk EH-150s, field coil speakers and more! 
Want to be a part of our show? Just email us a question or voice memo to podcast@fretboardjournal.com.
Some of the topics discussed this time around: 
1:23 Triple E jerky and freeze-dried ice cream (link)

2:36 Our sponsors: Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, StewMac, and Grez Guitars.  
 6:06 What's on Skip's bench: An Electar Model M with 6N6 power tubes; a National Dobro amp with 2A3 power tubes

13:06 Skip has a Falcon for sale; Mumbo Gumbo

13:58 I put the electrolytic capacitor in backward on a 5F2A build; how coupling caps work; what to do with this Gregory Mark 1?

19:16 Natural year-round lemonade

20:21 How to fix the broken reverb on a vintage Gibson Falcon; open secondaries, someone needs to make a replacement Falcon transformer

22:20 What do you do if you need to replace a capacitor and its original part is different from the schematic? Steve Albini's Gear Dork Videos (Garnet, Samamp)

28:58 Special guest: Jonathan Stout (link)! Field coil speakers; traffic sounds; Gibson EH-150/185 amps; Vintage 47 amps (link);  Combs Guitars JJ-150 pedal (link); Quilter 101 heads; the evolution of amplifiers; Junior Barnard; the Echo Speaker jack on a Gibson EH-150, Knott's Berry Farm, Fender Tweed Pros; Marie Sharp's hot sauce; pizza stones; pizza tips

1:03:38 David Lindley; Jackson Browne; Greg Leisz on the FJ's Steel Podcast (link)

1:04:11 Revisiting the Ice Cube

1:06:39 Non-reverb Princeton love; the Brown Box voltage attenuator

1:08:21 This week's Baffler: What amazingly killer amp can you turn a non-reverb Princeton into?

1:08:49 Waiting for a ferry in Snowdonia; early mountain biking

1:14:46 A VHT Special 6 with a useless tone knob

1:18:45 6L6s in a Fender Deluxe Reverb; acceptable idle current range; Revere Ware; Cameo Copper Cleaner; Chuck roast instead of brisket; spicy Italian sausage in pasta sauce; Brussels sprouts; beer

Special thanks to Tim Le Blanc for his help mixing this episode. Recorded May 24, 2024.

Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal. 
Want to support our show? Join our Patreon! 

It's the 133rd episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps podcast, where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions on all-things-tube amp! 
Want to be a part of our show? Just email us a question or voice memo to podcast@fretboardjournal.com.
Some of the topics discussed: 
1:14 Skip's 1950 Ferguson tractor, the Truth About Lawn Mowers
7:28 A zebra on the loose in Washington State
9:30: This week's sponsors: Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, StewMac, and Grez Guitars.

12:28  Grez Guitars sends Skip Quique Gomez & Little Charles Baty's Cookin' At Greaseland
 
16:51 What's on Skip's bench? A 1953 Fender Tweed Pro that needed nearly a complete rebuild
 
24:14 One solution for the multiple Pignose-amp quandary from ep. 132: Radial Engineering's Shotgun 4-Channel Amp Driver (Amazon link); 100 Vintage Hawaiian Songs (Spotify link)
 
30:35 Tom Gunterman's lithium battery pack picks from ep. 132, prunes
 
33:51 RIP Gerald Weber (Kendrick Amplifiers)

35:56 Book recommendation: 'The Birth of Loud' (Amazon link)

37:39 Jason has a jdflyback handblown tube amp! (YouTube link)
 
40:19 A Fender Vibrochamp that doesn't like my Les Paul, volume-dropping
 
45:11 Anything worth rescuing from old tube car radios?
 
48:55 A 1569 Altec power amplifier for guitars? Grange Hall and self-published cookbooks
 
53:30 A Music Man 115RP with a broken reverb
 
59:17 An update on last episode's 1972 Fender Princeton Reverb, a homemade signal tracer (based on this Kley De Jong video); 'Designing Tube Preamps for Guitar and Bass' by Merlin Blencowe (Amazon link); tahini; 'Servicing by Signal Tracing' by John F. Rider
 
1:04:24 Why can't I pry this tone pot off of my Harmony H-200?
 
1:07:10 What does using a tube pre-amp unit in front of your guitar amp actually do? Tube swapping a 6V6 or 6L6 (note: we'll get back to this next week)
 
1:14:09 Skip's handiwork on the new Taylor Swift album? (Instagram link) 
 
1:17:24 Making a closed cabinet for my Fender Princeton
 
1:21:19 Are amp techs divas? 

Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal. 
Want to support our show? Join our Patreon! 

No guests or special theme this week...just an all-new, old-school episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps, where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions on all-things-tube amp. 
Want to be a part of our show? Just email us a question or voice memo to podcast@fretboardjournal.com.
Some of the topics discussed: 
1:31 What's on Skip's workbench: Valco amps with a resistor and a normal speaker instead of a field coil
3:46 This week's sponsors: Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, Stringjoy, StewMac, Izotope, and Grez Guitars.
5:04 Thrift store: Revere Ware

8:01 What's the deal with this Leslie Model 18 circuit

15:41 Daisy chaining four Pignose amps to a backpack, tuna salad

20:46 What to do with these orange capacitors? Vacuum Tube Valley, Mexican Martinis

25:38 Skip has a nice mono hi-fi speaker cabinet for sale

27:07 Do speakers ever go out phase on their own?

28:32 Fender Princeton Reverb vs. Tremolux gain stages

31:22 The truth about vintage Sano amps (gumbo recipe found here)

35:47 Seventh-grade Skip; the glider that never touched down

40:11 A source for El Pato in Australia (link: productdistribution.com.au)

41:16 Ampeg Jets and Rockets "with the knobs that point straight up"

43:04 Spotlight on Paradise, California

48:32 Powered vintage speakers, El Pato chili 
53:05 Film cap orientation hack and the EH Hum Eliminator/Debugger 
58:35 Spotlight on glue 
1:03:04 The joys of using lithium-ion batteries onstage to power your tube amps 
1:09:43 A 1972 Princeton Reverb that doesn't like a wireless transmitter; a simple fish recipe 
1:16:11 How do the dual rectifiers work in the Angela Super Single Ended amp 
1:19:17 Rainier beer 
1:21:21 Claude Thornhill Orchestra
Hosted by amp tech Skip Simmons and co-hosted/produced by Jason Verlinde of the Fretboard Journal. 
Want to support our show? Join our Patreon! 

Illustrator/musician/underground comix legend Robert Armstrong (Mickey Rat, Couch Potato, the Cheap Suit Serenaders!) joins Skip and Jason this week for a very special installment of the Truth About Vintage Amps. 
Want to support our show? Join our Patreon! 
Some of the topics discussed: 
1:38 NOS military-grade green pilot light jewels from Gary Economy (Instagram); leave us an Apple Podcasts review and take a screenshot to enter to win one!; 5879 tubes
3:03 Where is George? (Danger UXB on eBay)
4:48 Rick Estrin and Dennis Gruenling's harmonica workshop, March 16 (link)
6:43 This week's sponsors: Emerald City Guitars; Amplified Parts; Izotope; Stringjoy Strings; and Grez Guitars.  Ordering from StewMac? Use this affiliate link to help us out! 
11:26 The 2024 Fretboard Summit, August 23-25 (link)
11:49 What's on Skip's bench: A PA head; blown power transformers
13:44 A discount on Eric Daw's amazing Solid Sound guitar wiring book (use TAVA when you check out): https://www.solidsoundbook.com/
16:19 Taming the bass frequency on your amplifier
23:15 Resistors: What does Skip use?
27:27 Special guest: Illustrator/musician/friend/Mickey Rat & Couch Potato-inventor/record collector Robert Armstong (link)! Early Hawaiian guitar recordings; growing up in Fender country but gravitating towards the banjo; Coulter guitars; Hugo Ernst guitars; John DeLapp guitars; playing saw on the 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' soundtrack; animator Ward Kimball; 'Man in Space' (YouTube link); not working at Disneyland; seeing David Lindley at the Topanga Banjo & Fiddle contest; coining the term "Couch Potato;" Bob's tweed Fender Deluxe; Supro Dual Tones; Pee Wee's Playhouse; playing with Sourdough Slim; sheepherder conventions; touring Japan; Ben Pollack's "Two Tickets to Georgia" (YouTube link); playing 78 records today; Al Dodge
1:38:10 John Sebastian gets his dad's PA head back; a Disneyland tube PA

It's a very special, all-Canadian episode of the Truth About Vintage Amps podcast, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions on all things tube amp repair! This week, we have special guests Calvin McCormick (Hiwatt) and Mike Watson of The 6L6s along for the ride.  
Reminder: You should join our Patreon.
Some of the topics discussed: 
1:06 Jason heads to the Phoenix MIM Museum (link); the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota (link); the American Banjo Museum (link)
3:20 This week's sponsors: Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, Izotope, Stringjoy Strings, and Grez Guitars.
6:05 Canadian amp builders worth following: Gary Economy (Instagram) & Lo-Fi Electronic Instruments (Instagram); Stromberg-Carlson 207; Pepco Riviera 725; Lifco Cobra Mark 2; how to make an amp less bass-y; Frazey Ford's "U Kin B the Sun" (YouTube)
13:10 The Velvet Touch
14:31 Our Facebook group (link); how did Skip first notice Johnson and Soundmaster amps?
20:18 Garnet quirks: What's up with the tone stack on this Garnet Revolution II?
23:22 Ted Weber speakers, field coil reconing
23:51 Niagra Falls
25:01 All things poutine; Suuns (link)
30:25 Special guest: Calvin McCormick of Hiwatt! (link)
53:01 Regional Canadian foods: Ketchup chips, coffee crisp, beaver tales, peameal bacon on a kaiser, Newfoundland Screech; the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist
58:23 Outside foil cap orientation on Soundmasters; DC leakage in grid leak bias input caps
1:03:10 The Kahayan 8x4 Selector (link)
1:05:30 What's the deal with this Soundmaster 086 schematic?
1:11:31 Slowing down the trem on a Traynor Custom Reverb YSR-1; Kevin O'Connor's books; Pepco amps
1:17:51 Reducing the noise on the Fretboard Summit Microtone pre-amp; Traynor YGM-3; El Pato chicken
1:23:07 Special guest: Mike Watson of the 6L6s; Lifco amps; Keil Amps; the Velvetone amp; Turner amps; Swampdonkey amps; amps with 6Y6 power tubes; Acrosound
1:43:23 Jimi Hendrix on a Marshall amp
Love the show? We have a Patreon where you can support us, get to the front of the line with questions, and get exclusive bonus content and surprises: 
https://www.patreon.com/vintageamps

Welcome to ep. 129 of the Truth About Vintage Amps podcast, the call-in show where amp tech Skip Simmons fields your questions on all things tube amp repair.
This week, it's an (almost) all-Fender episode! Reminder: You should join our Patreon.

Some of the topics discussed: 

:44 Jason goes to the NAMM Show
4:20 Skip is fixing his 1961 Comet
9:04 What's on Skip's bench: Three Fender Concerts; 5C1 Fender Champ circuits; a 5-watt Oahu with a 40-watt transformer; a silver panel Fender Champ for sale at Skip's
14:27 This week's sponsors: Emerald City Guitars, Amplified Parts, Izotope, and Grez Guitars.
20:36 Ceriatone amps; Divided by Thirteen Amplification gets acquired by Two-Rock
25:20 The art of drawing your own schematic; Robert Kidney's 'Jackleg'
29:56 Increasing gain on a Fender Princeton AA964
33:02 Isolated input/output jacks
35:45 A 1979 Fender Vibrolux with warped MDF baffle board, baffle replacement; good goo wood hardener
42:53 Should I recone the CTS alnico speakers on my rusty Fender Super Reverb or get new speakers? Slovakian Bwoop; Solfood's hot pepper sauce (link)
51:37 Why do my tubes have this crusty stuff around the base? Don Pepino pizza sauce; The Mob Run Pizzerias of NYC, N-Men: The Untold Story (link); Lake Berryessa's glory hole; Ben Harper (redux)
59:07 Help me understand why a tube amplifier needs a load?
1:03:11 The all-Fender episode
1:05:09 What's a good cheap alternative to the Fender Musicmaster I am looking at? Ampegs
1:09:20 Tweed Princeton kit woes … new Champ speaker
Love the show? We have a Patreon where you can support us, get to the front of the line with questions, and get exclusive bonus content and surprises: 
https://www.patreon.com/vintageamps